Puffy Paint Rainbow

If you haven't tried homemade puffy paint before, then you're missing out! This beautiful Puffy Paint Rainbow is a great craft or activity for spring. And of course, once you know how to make puffy paint you can use it to make all kinds of masterpieces! While preschoolers and younger children will certainly enjoy working with puffy paint, it can be a little tricky to use so a more complex project like this rainbow might be best suited for elementary or older kids. Let's find out how to make it!

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Start by gathering your materials. All you need is:

shaving cream
white school glue
food coloring
cardstock
paint brushes
some kind of bowls or containers for your paint.

Materials for homemade puffy paint recipe. Cardstock, shaving cream, white glue, food coloring, paintbrushes, and paper bowls.

Making puffy paint couldn't be any easier. The basic recipe is equal parts shaving cream and white school glue but it does not have to be precise! I just gave a generous squirt of shaving cream and added 1/4 of a bottle of school glue. Add food coloring to make the colors that you need. As you stir it up, it should feel like thick, sticky shaving cream.

Bowls of shaving cream, school glue, and food coloring before they are mixed to make puffy paint.

We made a beautiful rainbow of colors.

Bowls of puffy paint in 2 rows. The first row has pink, light orange, and pale yellow. The bottom row has light green, sky blue, and lavender. A paintbrush is in each bowl.

Time to start painting! Painting with puffy paint feels a little bit like working with frosting. If you just drag your brush across the page, the "puffy" part of the paint won't stay on the page nicely. It's more of a dabbing process. I found it helpful to get plenty of paint on my brush so that there was plenty to leave behind on the page.

A puffy paint rainbow in progress. The pink arc is complete and the orange arc has begun. Bowls of pink, orange, and yellow puffy paint with paintbrushes are along the top of the frame.

Look at all the beautiful puffy paint rainbow goodness!

Closeup of the end of the puffy paint rainbow. Beautiful colors and textures.

Puffy paint masterpieces should be enjoyed immediately. The paint deflates as it dries, so it is basically flat 24 hours later. If there were more glue in your mixture it would likely stay puffier for a little bit longer. What else can you paint with puffy paint?